User safety inevitably becomes a chief concern in any industry where over-sized and weighty machinery, such as fluid pumps, are used. This is the case in the oil industry where large and heavy high pressure pumping systems are indispensable, and thus widely used. These high pressure pumping systems often employ plunger pumps which have at least one cylindrical plunger sliding through a stationary high-pressure seal to create the high pressure necessary to force material through the pump. Far from maintenance free, these pumps often need to be stripped and have several parts replaced due to the general wear of the internal components and the contamination of the plungers.
Stripping the pumps and replacing pump parts involves a series of dangerous and arduous tasks when considering that the pump body, including the plungers and other internal components, often weigh in excess of three thousand pounds. Such removal and manipulation often requires an enormous amount of brute force to be exerted by a mechanic. As a best attempt to remove, replace, and manipulate the pump parts and the industrially-sized fasteners retaining them within the pump, mechanics employ an array of crude tools, such as sledge hammers, rods, and wrenches.
As a result, the mechanic often struggles to engage each tool effectively while avoiding the placement of his extremities at a pinch point wherein they can be severely injured, such as between the tool and the body of the pump. Further, more than one mechanic is often necessary to remove pump components. For example, in practice, a first mechanic might align a rod against the component, while a second mechanic swings a sledge hammer towards the rod to create the force used to remove and replace the pump parts. However, the second user might fail to strike the rod and injure himself or the first mechanic.
One such task involved in stripping the pump requires the removal and replacement of one or more plungers and its associated packing from a pump housing. Removal of the plunger is traditionally accomplished using an elongated rod inserted through an opening at the surface of the pump housing into a plunger well. Once the rod is positioned against the plunger, a hammer is used to strike the rod and forcefully direct the plunger out a second opening at the opposing surface of the pump housing.
However, because of the pinch points created between the handle of the rod and the hammer, the mechanic is often unable to drive the plunger from the pump housing in a safe and effective manner. The mechanic may struggle to hold the rod against the plunger, while trying to both avoid striking his fingers and hit the rod with enough force to direct the plunger from the pump housing. As a result, the user is often left with one or more crushed fingers. Further, the user can also miss the rod entirely and strike the surface of the pump causing damage to the pump housing.
Yet further, while methods exist for the complete removal of one side of the pump housing to enable access to all of the components therein, such methods are time consuming and physically draining to perform given the massive size and weight of the pump housing.
While these procedures and tools may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present disclosure as disclosed hereafter.
In the present disclosure, where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge or otherwise constitutes prior art under the applicable statutory provisions; or is known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which the present disclosure is concerned.
While certain aspects of conventional technologies have been discussed to facilitate the present disclosure, no technical aspects are disclaimed and it is contemplated that the claims may encompass one or more of the conventional technical aspects discussed herein.